US: Airlines rack up cancellations, delays in July

Airlines had a tough July, with the most lengthy tarmac delays in more than a year and nearly twice as many flights canceled as a month earlier, according to a DoT report Tuesday. The 21 tarmac delays that month violated federal rules for a maximum of three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The department will investigate each case and potentially fine the airlines involved. Eight of the delays were on Delta Air Lines flights and five on United Airlines. The results were the worst since 24 lengthy delays in February 2015. The reporting carriers canceled 1.9% of their scheduled domestic flights in July, nearly doubling the 1% rate a month earlier and the 0.9% rate from same month a year earlier, according to the report. Southwest contributed with 2,300 cancelled flights during a three-day period from a computer outage.<br/>